One Spark coverage

Burks was at One Spark Sunday to talk up PartPic, the start-up company where she’s chief executive overseeing work on an algorithm-based application to identify parts based on pictures of them.

“The market is huge,” Burks told a crowd that had just heard about her uncle’s losses as a farmer when a key piece of machinery broke down and he lost two weeks trying to identify the damaged part to get a replacement.

There were more than 600 projects like that at the five-day festival, where voting for crowd-funded capital wrapped up Sunday afternoon.

Winners will be announced later in the day

PITCHERS UP ... FOR $10,000

Creators at One Spark spent a Sunday afternoon delivering pitches that will help some of them land money from the exposure they got in the five-day festival.

Jurors picked three finalists in each of five categories – art, innovation, music, science and tech – that have the chance to talk about their projects for five minutes on a stage at Hemming Plaza, then field questions from potential investors.

The top pick will win an extra $10,000 on top of whatever they get from the crowd-funded voting.

Besides a chance at funding, it’s also important for creators to hear what investors are thinking, emcee Al Emerick told a crowd at a sun-splashed plaza.

Jason Sandrich came to One Spark seeking inspiration. He wasn’t disappointed Sunday.

“I like to tinker with stuff,” said the 70-year-old retired Jacksonville mechanic as he admired the Renaissance Jax robotics display.

“It seems like the robots would be good to get into …I can see making a robot that could help people be more independent,” said Sandrich, who declined to reveal what his invention ideas might be.

Saying, he’d seen a lot of good ideas at One Spark, Sandrich said he was headed back to his garage workshop in the Regency area.

“I see the competition is pretty tough, but I think I might have something ready for next year,” Sandrich said.

RUN SAFETY PEPPER SPRAY

To help keep runners and walkers safe, Domonique Torrence created Run Safety Pepper Spray that Spiderman might envy. Torrence said his lightweight device slips over your hand and straps to your wrist and leaves your hands free to pick things up or open the car door. The pepper spray trigger nestled in the palm of your hand. It allows the person quick and fumble-free access to pepper spray to ward off attackers be they human or animal.

“All you have to do is flip off the safety in the palm of your hand, press the button and it sprays pepper spray about 5 to 6 feet,” he said.

Torrence it took him four years to develop the prototype. He came up with idea after a female friend in college was ambushed and raped while walking back to her dorm across campus at night. Several people already have expressed interest in investing in his device, he said.